Welcome readers! This blog is written as a part of task assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, from Department of English, MKBU. This Particular blog deals with Arundhati Roy's Second novel' 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness'. This novel is a very complex one and difficult to understand. This blog basically deals with characters and Narrative plot of the novel. So, First let us have a brief overview about Arundhati Roy and the novel.
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Arundhati Roy
'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' is the second novel by Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, Published in 2017, twenty years after her debut novel, 'The God of Small Things'.
The novel weaves together the stories of people navigating some of the darkest and most violent episodes of modern Indian history, from land reform that dispossessed poor farmers to the Bhopal disaster, 2002 Godhra train burning and kashmir insurgency. Roy's characters run the gamut of Indian society and include an intersex woman ( Hijra) a rebellious architect, and her landlord who is a supervisor in the intelligence service. The narrative spans across decades and locations, but primarily takes place in Delhi and kashmir.
□ In brief about Arundhati Roy :-
Arundhati Roy, ( born on 24th November, 1961) Shilong, Meghalaya, India) is an Indian Author and Political activist who is best known for the award winning novel, 'The God of Small Things' (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights, causes which resulted in various legal problems.
In 1997 Roy published her first debut novel, The God of Small Things to wide acclaim. The semiautobiographical work departed from the conventional plots and light prose that had been typical among best - sellers. Her novel became the biggest selling book by a nonexpatariate Indian Author and won the 1998 Man Booker Prize for fiction.
Arundhati Roy's subsequent literary output largely consisted of politically oriented nonfiction, much of it aimed at addressing the problems faced by her homeland in the age of global capitalism. Among her publications, were Power Politics (2001), The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2002), War Talk (2003), Public Power in the Age of Empire (2004). In the year 2017, Arundhati Roy published 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' her first novel in 20 years. The work blends personal stories with topical issues as it uses a large cast of characters, including a transgender woman and a resistance fighter in kashmir, to explore contemporary India.
In recognition of her outspoken advocacy of human rights, Arundhati Roy was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award in 2002, the sydney peace prize in 2004, and the sahitya Akademi award from the Indian Academy of Letters in 2006.
□ About the Novel - 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' :-
The novel - 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' is a sprawling narrative that weaves together various characters and storylines, reflecting on themes such as politics, social justice, identity, and love in contemporary India. It follows the lives of individuals from marginalized communities, including transgender people, as they navigate through the complexities of Indian society. Roy's writing style is characterized by rich prose, vivid imagery, and a deep exploration of political and social issues. This novel is a complex and thought-provoking novel that challenges readers to grapple with the complexities of Indian society and the human experience.
"The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" is a fictional work set in India, delving into themes like political corruption, the caste system, and the Kashmir conflict. Additionally, it addresses human rights and social issues faced by marginalized communities including transgender and lower-caste individuals. The novel consists total 12 chapters. As the chapter unfolds, we come to know about the Plot Narrative or Plot structure. These chapters name are as below or under ;
□ Chapters :-
1. Where Do Old Birds Go to Die?
2. Khwabgah
3. The Nativity
4. Dr. Azad Bhartiya
5. The Slow-Goose Chase
6. Some Questions for Later
7. The Landlord
8. The Tenant
9. The Untimely Death of Miss Jebeen the First
10. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
11. The Landlord
12. Guhi Kyon
□ Characters :-
Plot Narrative :-
In Arundhati Roy's novel - The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' - Five different worlds are there.
1. Khwabgah
2. Jannat / Graveyard
3. Jantar Mantar world
4. Kashmir
5. Dandakaranya
The novel begins in Jannat Graveyard with a surreal image. 'she lived in a graveyard like a tree.' There is one character named Imam Ziauddin who is an old Blind man became frequent companion of Anjum. In the second chapter of the novel, we enter into the world of Khwabgah. Anjum was born as Aftab to Jahanara Begum and Mulakat Ali. Aftab had born with the genitals of both male and female. The character of Ahlam Baiji, midwife of Mulakat Ali announced that a boy child was born. Then the word 'Hijra' , 'Kinnar' was there for the people like this child. Khwabgah means 'Place of Dreams' and outside the Khwabgah means 'Duniya Wale'. So, In the second chapter of the novel Khwabgah world introduced and the characters who are living there.
Further, in the novel Aftab saw a beautiful lady in the market and followed her. That is how Aftab reached Khwabgah. Later on, we come to know about the lady that she was Bombay silk, And Begum Kulsoom bi was the leader of this khwabgah haveli and she was very proud of the Hijra community. As Aftab had born with the genitals of both male as well as female. Jahanara Begum taking Aftab to the Dargah of Hazrat sarmad. Then comes the backstory of Hazrat sarmad that he came from the Iranian reign to Delhi and in love with Abhay chand. He adopts islam and also disowns it due to some reasons. He used to roam naked in the time of King Aurangzeb. Due to that he was caught and asked to recite the whole kalima but he only recites Laa Illaha which means there is no god.
Mulakat Ali is an Hakim, who makes medicines. Both Jahanara Begum and Mulakat Ali are not happy to live with a third gender child. There comes a backstory of Mulakat Ali as well as reference to changez khan. He was an Anti - Islam. Along with that, the story of changez khan as a lover. His wife name was Borte khaturam; and he fought for his wife. Here, comes a reference to Ramayana, where Rama goes for 14 long years vanvas, everyone came to give him farewell, he addressed male and female and asked to return but forgot to address the third gender and they stood there for fourteen long years as they were not asked to return.
Aftab decides to live in khwabgah at the age of 15-16 and Anjum starts her own life. one day when she visited to Jama Masjid, found a baby of around three years named Zainab and brought her to Khwabgah. slowly, Anjum becomes the mother of zainab. There comes the character of saeeda who is seen as Anti - Anjum or villain at khwabgah world. Zainab reaches at the age when she is ready to go to school and suddenly she suffered through ill health. Anjum feels that saeeda did black magic on Zainab and decided to take her to Ajmer sharif with Zakir Mian. Zakir Mian had relatives in Gujarat and they come to Gujarat. It was the period of 2002 and comes the scene of Godhra kand. Riots were going on in which Zakir Mian was killed. 'Anjum was spared because she was Hijra.' After returning from Gujarat, Anjum completely changed. The effects of riots changed her, and the traumatic experiences of riots also. she started flaunting himself as a man and also starts dressing Zainab in a boy's dress. she left the khwabgah and moves to Jannat / Graveyard.
Anjum constructs a house in graveyard and creates Jannat Guesthouse. Further, as the story progress, Jannat guesthouse gets one permanent guest named saddam Hussein. He introduces himself working with the government hospital, which is near by graveyard. Saddam Hussein left his job and working as a security guard with private agency handled by one of the character named Sangeeta Madam. One day Saddam was caught lying that he is Muslim and which was caught by Anjum. Then comes the backstory of Saddam Hussein's character and his real name was Dayachand - a chamar from Haryana. In his childhood period, as a boy he witnessed his father's murder. His father used to do a job of skinning the skin of dead animals. It refers to the leaching of Dalits in Una, Gujarat which has happened in Haryana in the Novel. His father was caught by Sherawat. Dayachand's father was beaten and killed by a group of people . Dayachand thought that one day he will kill Sherawat, he has that desire of revenge and deep hatred. He says that when he came Delhi, he saw America was hanging Saddam Hussein that coming on T.V. So, these visuals remains in the mind of Dayachand and that is why he adopted that particular name thinking that one day he will also take revenge.
Moving towards the world of Jantar Mantar, A group from Jannat Guest house decides to go to Jantar Mantar, New Delhi as there were lots of news about protests and people gatherings. But, there were many protests going on. Like ;
1. Mothers of the Disappeared [ Kashmiri Mothers]
2. One who wanted Hindi as a national language
3. Manipur nationalists; women against ARSPA
4. Delhi kabadiwala
5. Bhopalis - Fighting against union carbide
At Jantar Mantar, one of the character Dr.Azad bharti was protesting there for the last 10 or 11 years, and he has adopted the name Azad. Suddenly a small baby was found on the footpaths. Anjum decides to take care of the baby but some people said that they are Hijras. so can not take the baby. At that time the character of Mr. Agrawal comes and starts fighting with Anjum. Between, all these suddenly the baby was lost. Here the episode of Jantar Mantar ends.
In the third part of the novel, it discusses about the world of Kashmir. Here we find the group of characters. They are - Biplav Das Gupta, S. Tillotama, Nagraj Hariharan and Musa Yeswi. These four are college friends and story flashes back to the college days and we came to know that all three characters like - Biplav Das Gupta, Nagraj Hariharan and Musa Yeswi attracted towards Tillotama during their days of college. As the story moves on, BiplavDas Gupta's wife Chitrarupa and his two daughters Rabia and Ania. The baby which was lost from Jantar Mantar was taken by S. Tillotama. Dr. Azad Bharti is one such character who links all these characters and also suggests Tillo to give the baby in Jannat's guesthouse and that way all the characters get connected with each other. The baby is known as Jebeen ( later, Jebeen the second). The name of Musa Yeswi's wife Arifa and their daughter lived in kashmir. In one of the encounter, Musa's wife and daughter accidentally killed and very tragic thing happened. These particular incident leads Musa to be terrorist.
Cap Amrik singh is a strict officer and somewhere believed that violence is necessary while dealing with the terrorists. Another character Jalil Qadri was caught and his dead body was found. People were angry and that is why Cap Amrik singh and his wife Lavleen singh left kashmir and went to Jammu. But still as they both didn't feel safe they went to canada from there to America and living in California. One day news came that Captain Amrik singh killed his family and did suicide. Everyone thought that it was Musa who went to California and killed them. When Tillo was found missing Biplav went to her apartment. At there After seeing the photos and Documents Biplav came to know that Tillotama knows lot many things. The character of Nagraj Hariharan with an interview with Aijaz gets to know that how terrorist groups work. Almost all the characters are introduced in the novel except for one that who is the mother of that baby named Jebeen - the second.
[ In the last 20 pages of a novel there is a long letter written by Revathy.]
That letter brings a tragic story and Revathy was raped by six police officers and Udaya was the daughter of 6 fathers and 3 mothers. ( Tillo, Revathy, Anjum.) Udaya connects the whole story. The baby found at Jantar Mantar who was named Jebeen - the second by S. Tillotama in memory of his friend Musa and wide Arifa. Later the baby was known as Udaya Jebeen.
In the last scene of the novel (last two paras). Anjum was restless at night and talked about her first sight of Bombay to Udaya Jebeen. Anjum and Udaya went for a walk. Returning to House back everyone was asleep except Dung beetle- Guih Khom who was working hard. It was on its back like it will safeguard the earth when heaven will fall. It seemed that he also knew that everything will end beautifully and happily as now Udaya Jebeen has come. Jebeen is seen as the hope. The novel ends hopefully.
Introductory Presentation on 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' by Arundhati Roy:-
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